Over the past several years, so-called fluid mounts have found application in a variety of uses where motion damping is required. For instance, in some modern vehicles, engines are mounted to frames utilizing fluid mounts which can be designed to provide desired amplitude and/or frequency responsive vibration isolation. An example of such a mount is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,907 owned by the assignee of the present invention.
While fluid mounts may function satisfactorily for their intended purposes, fluid mounts, in general, have certain drawbacks. For instance, they are somewhat difficult to manufacture on a mass-production basis because of the need both to fill the mount and to insure against leakage in use. Hence, fluid mounts are not as inexpensive as desired for applications in which cost and reliability are important considerations.
An isolator that does not require fluid to damp vibrations has been proposed. Such an isolator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,597 to Gaydecki. In the Gaydecki isolator, uniaxial vibration damping is provided by means of a rigid rib and groove member which is slidably moved in pressure engagement along an elastomeric element. The Gaydecki isolator utilizes the hysteresis of the elastomer to effect damping.
While the Gaydecki isolator may function satisfactorily to damp motion along a single axis, there are many applications, such as the aforedescribed automotive engine to frame mounting application, which require damping along a plurality of axes, such as the X, Y and Z axes. Moreover, there is a need for such a fluidless mount which can be manufactured readily utilizing conventional mass-production manufacturing techniques and equipment. There is also a need for a mount which of this type which can provide amplitude-sensitive damping.